Security at KZN schools beefed up after exam disruption threats

The KwaZulu-Natal department of community safety has beefed up security at schools, after controversial business forum Delangokubona allegedly threatened to disrupt exams.

The department said in a statement on Monday that MEC Bheki Ntuli had instructed it and police management to reinforce schools' examination security plans to safeguard against disruptions.

This comes after threats on social media, under the Delangokubona banner, to disrupt exams, including the matric English paper on Wednesday, due to delays in payment to service providers contracted by the education department.

“These threats are viewed very seriously and we do not take them lightly. Anything that seeks to disrupt the future of our children will be met with tough actions from the state. Anything that tampers with the future of our children will never be tolerated,” said Ntuli.

The business consortium, however, has distanced itself from the threats.

“While we treat this problem as a cancer that threatens our members' existence, we distance ourselves from threats that have been peddled on social media using our name,” Delangokubona said in a statement on Monday.

It did, however, voice concern over the late payments.

“As a business forum, we have been angered by delay in payments for our members who have been contracted by the department of education. Our members have had to embark on picketing to put pressure on officials to pay our members. A delay in payments has had a devastating impact on the wellbeing of our members,” it said.

Ntuli said he and MEC for education Kwazi Mshengu had resolved to monitor the situation closely. 

The justice crime prevention and security cluster (JCPS) is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss a number of issues in the province, including securing the matric examinations.